Really,I dont think Mike Bloomfield ever got the recognition he deserved!He was one of those purest that played his axe just the way it was!No gadgets,no bullshit!
yeah man bloomfield has the groove in every inch of is body...never heard someone like him..even w.trout maybe srv burtits different ..srv fuck his guitar ...mike....make sweet love wit her....
@@mariocuellar9060 And some of us like myself were blessed to have seen some of these great musicians on stage and sometimes all together jamming such as Bloomfield, Elvin Bishop, Jimi Hendricks, BB and Albert King, Buddy Guy, Al Kooper , Buddy Miles etc. way back in the old days.
MIchael Bloomfield is in a class by itself. In my opinion, the greatest white blues guitarist the world has ever produced. When he was "on", no one could touch him. And he was a sweetheart of a guy. There's a touching story of Carlos Santana, a kid at the time, playing Mike's Les Paul in the biography.
ITS EASY TO TELL HES PLAYING THE OPTIONS WHITE.TELECASTER.BACK THEN THE STRINGS WERE SO HEAVY THEY WERE TWANGY,HARD TO PLAY.CERTAIN GUAGES.SUPER SLINKYS CAME OUT IN 1967.MIKE USED A LES PAUL WITH HUMBUCKS OR P90S.FOR AMPS HE FAVORED FENDER TWIN 2 12INCH,AND FENDER SUPER REVERB 4 10 INCH JENSENS.I LAST SAW HIM PLAY IN 1977,IN PORTLAND.NICK GRAVENITES WAS ON BASS. MIKE WAS USING A WHITE STRAT,ONE OF THE ONLY TIMES IVE SEEN HIM WITH A STRATOCASTER.HE TOLD ME IT WAS JUST FOR A SHORT TOUR,I DONT KNOW WHY HE HAD NO LES PAUL,I DIDNT ASK.THEY SOUNDED GOOD.RIP MIKE,YOU DESERVE IT.
Simply the best. Listeners have to realize that at this time there was no one playing this hard, this bold. I recent years I have thought of Mike's early playing as being very akin to Buddy Guy, but with control and much more lyrical. Great stuff that I hope will be appreciated for many generations to come.
He was a cat that had a vey unique sound - two bars into the tune, you knew it was him. He and Butterfield started me on my 5 decade love affair for the blues.
This playing is great but what is even greater is the fact that this was 1964 ! Think of what we were hearing that year and how far ahead this playing is to any of that!
You can hear acoustic licks in his Tele playing. Later, when he switched to the shorter scale Les Paul, he and Peter Green made so famous, his bends took on a different dimension. What a tragic loss. But there really are plenty of tracks to absorb and jam with. His spirit lives on!!
@@tomasvanecek8626 : It is always great to hear from a fan of this outstanding musician. I was fortunate to see Bloomfield four times in concert. Each concert was an event for me, whether he was great or just OK. The first concert I attended Bloomfield & Al Kooper(Super Session) were the second act at The Filmore East. The opening act was Earth Opera, which had David Grisman & Peter Rowan as band members. The main attraction was Sam & Dave. Overall this was a great show. But what stood out that evening was Bloomfield's guitar solos. My friend at the time, Peter K. , told the rest of of our group, attending the show. That you just had to look at my face to know how I felt about Bloomfield's guitar playing. It is true, I have never been able to truly describe how much the musician has touched my soul.✌🤗
I love Mike Bloomfield's playing so much. And this is 1964 when he is only a youngster playing the taverns of Chicago. I mean he gets way, way better than this. What an artiste. 😜
I found this recording on a 7 inch reel in Norman Dayron's closet in Mill Valley. I asked Norman how long it had been since he heard it and he said "What's the date on the box?" I told him 1964 and he said "That's when I last heard it - the day I recorded it." So Thanks ultimately to Michael's closest friend Norman Dayron, and the best of health for letting us use this in the book.
@Bill Keenom First Thank you and Norman Dayron. Do you have any information on where, when, how it was recorded. I had a CD I found second hand of recordings from 1964 of mostly blues, called Early Michael Bloomfield or some such. If memory serves most of it was recorded in New York and Al Kooper name was in there. A couple of the cuts might have been late or Dec. of 1963. Extremely curious. We gather here tonight for the dignity of man. Dah dah dah. If I could lose All my troubles By movin away. I wouldn't stay. No I . . . Oh.* I speak tonight for the dignity of . . . Don't want to get that wrong or we might not have any more basketball.
Other than M.B.'s famous 1963 "The Guitar That Killed Folk" Telecaster, do we know what other equipment he was using on this session, particularly the amplifier?
You can't say someone is wrong because of who their favorite blues guitarist is. It's a matter of what appeals to the person. I enjoy listening to Mike over B.B. It's up to the individual.
Michael Bloomfield is one of the BEST Blues guitarist ever!!!! Take a listen to Live at Bill Graham's Fillmore West 1969 with Nick Gravenites. Make sure you listen to The Moon Tune and Killing My Love. The guitar solo on the Moon Tune makes me cry, it's that good, he makes the guitar cry.
I hear so much influence from so many early Blues Guitar greats from 50s-Early 60s-Freddy King,Guitar Slim,Berry,and some Rockabilly influences as well. So tragic Drugs to him Early. Amazing he’s just ripping like Charlie Parker on the Sax.
+Dieter62 I love Bloomfield, but that is an insane statement. Even he would've said so. In 1964 -- the time of this recording -- BB King was likely the best, followed by Freddie & Albert, and Albert Collins, Earl Hooker, Magic Sam, Buddy Guy, Otis Rush, not to mention the still-alive T- Bone Walker and Lonnie Johnson... to give such black player short shrift seems pointed.
Every kid beginner blues guitarist if he's lucky discovers Bloomfield , Then for the next 10 years its part of his practice regimen.Then he gets good , real good fast. Ask me how I know.
Robben Ford, Carlos Santana, Billy Gibbons and countless other “guitar masters” have publicly stated and have been quoted in biographies how Mike Bloomfield’s guitar playing was the ceiling for everyone else. Are you listening to this? This is not just noodling for God’s sake!
There's a bit of swing and jazz going on here, as a born Detroiter, I've heard and had my share of the blues. The seriouse blues is hard hard driving with a punishing beat, melody is an afterthought. It hits home with a tonic drone expressed in a single key, this was developed in India, through to Africa and hence the U.S. Delta can easily mingle what the raga, hence the blues term "rag"
This is from a cd that came with the book about Michael called "If You Love These Blues". If youre not familiar with the book pick it up it's a great read.Disc has 8 tracks from 1964.
He's like Johnny Guitar Watson on steroids, holy crap! I always thought Roy Buchanan and Danny Gatton were the masters of the Telecaster, I'm not so sure now. I was more familiar with his LP sound, but boy that bridge pickup could slice through an aircraft carrier. His demise was a truly sad event, it's too bad they didn't have the modern methods to help his condition back then like they do now days. RIP Michael! Love you man!
Mike was an extraordinary talent. He started playing when he was 13. By the time he was 17 he was sitting with Muddy Waters and many other Chicago blues legends.
I love everything about the way Mike plays. I love that it's a little rough, dare I say sloppy. I love the clams, the spiky tone. It's so raw and aggressive when compared the modern white lawyer blues players with their twenty overdrive pedals going into their overpriced dumble amps. Anyone reckon what string gauge he's using here. Probaly a bit on the heavy side?
Sounds like the strings are fairly substantial. I don't know why, but as a heavy string player, they bite a bit differently than the lighter strings will, all other things being equal.
I heard from Tom Doucette, who was a roadie with PBBB and later with the ABB that MB played very light strings...actually Black Diamond banjo strings on the top 3 and wound below. His finger vibrato was much more pronounced on the Les Paul than on the early Telecaster recordings, so maybe he went lighter after switching?
One of my greatest influences. If you have not heard his work on the "Fathers and Sons" album - specifically "Can't Lose What You Ain't Never Had" you are missing possibly THE best short blues solo in the genre.
His playing blew Muddy and BB away. That's why they adopted him. BB King said the sky's the limit for him. Dylan said he misses him more than any other.
On his first to the U. S. Eric Clapton said he that Mike Bloomfield was one of the people he wanted to meet, B B King and Muddy Waters were two others. Bob Dylan said Mike was the best. Hendrix listened to him. Enough said.
Both Hendrix and Clapton were listening to Michael intentently before they made the scene. Not to mention Carlos Santana who supposedly took lessons from him.
18 years of ages. been studying bloomfield and robertson, both tele masters, ttrying to play like them on an acoustic, and soon I get my first tele. It will blues nonstop in this small british terrace.
great post, ive been doing exactly that and i learn tons, some of his lines are so fast and great, i had to slow them down four times in VLC to really catch what was going on. Transcribing that stuff really gets you as close as possible to learning from him.
I am 21 and i have only been playing for two years. I discovered Mike Bloomfield about half a year ago and this all so new to me, im not american. But when i heard bloomfield i had the thought that i arrived at what i wanted to do, it felt like the sound i was searching for the whole time, he portrayed the most.
Jimi Hendrix never could get what he wanted with a Tele yet he played many other guitars besides a Strat. He said, "A Tele has only two sounds, good and bad. And I can't get the good." You're right, the Telecaster is an animal unto itself. Those who bond with them, love them. But they're not for everyone.
I met him a couple of times when I was about 18 and an aspiring guitar player in San Francisco. He was absolutely brilliant when he felt well. Not so much when he didn't.
This is exactly what I concluded. I saw him only once in Montreal and he was in absolutely horrible condition. He played worse than the local guys he hired as his pickup band. I was angry at him. Than later I was angry at myself after I heard he had died. Even on his recordings there are some real lemon sessions but when he was "on" there was no one on this planet that affected me like he did. Stone Blues I called it because it created a drug like euphoria in me. HArvey Brooks was always on those recordings so I always wonder if he somehow knew how to bring it out of Bloomfield.
Thanks for that story man, very well said. Even with his addiction problems, he was still one of the best to the end. His last few years, he made some great recordings, and I especially love Analine. You were lucky to be alive back then, maybe not so much now - eh?
I met him back then. He was very kind and congenial. That night Steve Miller and Harvey Mandel were playing too. Mike was digging them. Jerry Garcia was blown away by Bloomers playing too.
I've always held court over the last 50 years or so, with my own choice that I called the "Five Caballeros". The white boys of the Blues; Mike, Rory, Peter, Johnny, and Roy. If y'all know what I'm talkin' about.........well, then y'all know what I'm talkin' about!
Yes sir, all of the above. Mike was the only one i never got to see, of that list. As Bob Hite says 'Don't forget to boogie'. Enjoy, all over the place. Greetings from the Irish delta.
Great list… I don’t know why Clapton isn’t in there. He gets picked on quite a bit but back in his early days when he sported Gibsons he was phenomenal.
In 1965 I had a cover band at U-Mass, Amherst. We used to drive to Boston to catch the "Paul Butterfield Blues Band" at "Club 47" at 47 Palmer Street, Harvard Square. They changed the name to "Passims" I have three photos of Bloomfield and Butterfield having a smoke on break. The guys in the band were making fun for asking them for a photo but they later wanted copies. Ha !! Bloomfield used to bite his tongue he got so 'high' playing that Telecaster. The last time I saw Mike Bloomfield was in a blues bar in San Francisco. I was in an EWO class (Emergency War Order) at Vandenburg AFB and got 'leave' so I drove up and saw him that last time. ....small venue and his playing was awesome as usual. He's also on many early Dylan albums. RIP: Mike Bloomfield
Holy fuck, that's some damn good shit! I confess I've neglected listening to Bloomfield over the years...and after listening to this, I wonder what took me so damn long. Better late than never! :-) Who was playing like this at the time? Certainly not Clapton, the Kings(B.B. King particularly), perhaps Peter Green(though I'm not familiar with his stuff in the early 60s...He played one bitchin' live performance of All Over Again/I got a good mind to give up living, but I think that was in 1970. I'm gonna keep listening, Mike was one of a kind for sure! Thanks for the post! :-) Cheers!
I salute you...from a Yank who had to hear this music first from Clapton, Mayall, Beck, etc. before he found out about its true sources. Best of luck and wishes for your own musical journey of discovery and deepening appreciation.
Damn! This is a revelation - I wasn't nearly acquainted enough with Bloomfield's output in this era apart from backing Dylan and the Butterfield band. His feel, his cascading explosions of notes, and the obvious influence of Freddy King. He's not just copying, though I love his Tele tone here: absolutely the closest I've heard to that P-90 sound and execution from King's early to mid-60s stuff on a Telecaster, period! Right down to the growl on the bottom strings. This is the shit!!!!
Opions....Mike Bloomfield...the Cat...as Mike said of Johnny Winter ...im trying to find me words...just love Mikes playing...so influenced me......MAGIC
E sempre bom ouvir e recordar Os Grandes Musicos dos Blues como estar a ouvir o Grande Guitarrista Mike Bloomfield e preciso mesmo gostar dos Blues para saber ouvir estes Grandes Senhores dos BLUES.
Here his sounds a lot like Danny Gatton harmonically. Great imagination. Danny was a little smoother but he had more experience when I tuned into him. The telecaster is a hard instrument to play.
Interesting that Bloomfield is given credit for the rebirth of the Les Paul Standard as the main blues, and later, rock axe of the '60s, but he made his bones on a '63 Telecaster. This is him on the Tele. And his great early tracks were on the Telecaster - 1st Butterfield album, and his work with Dylan on Bringing It All Back Home and Highway 61. He was the 1st player over here to adopt the Les Paul and make it legendary and that crossed the Atlantic to become guitar of choice for Clapton, Page, Beck, Peter Green and all the Brit Blues icons of the '60s and '70s.
This is so touching.. right now i'm reading "if you love those blues", but the cd i got with it is 7 tracks long, not 8. The last track is "Gotta Call Susie" Anyway the man was the real thing. Nothing but feeling and blues. RIP
I pray someone will be there for the future Bloomfield's lost because of the tradgety of durgs. Drugs attack anywhere ,anytime, anyone No one is safe at the wrong place or time. Every one is in danger. This is everyone's battle. Save our artists when we can but try.
@@elecktrick9s99 Yes he was on the scène at this time, Roy used to play for a lot of people. This blues is not for Buchanan even if Mike loved Buchanan
@@SmeeUncleJoe Roy was Mike's best friend growing up. Roy was a buddy of mine in Mexico in 1966-67. Roy played in the Miller Goldberg Blues Band right before moving to Mexico. Roy never mentioned this to me. I saw Mike in Seattle in the late 70s He told me Roy had OD.d. Then a few years later Mike did too. Here's the Miller Goldberg Band.ruclips.net/video/s8vOgHz5Kyk/видео.html
Really,I dont think Mike Bloomfield ever got the recognition he deserved!He was one of those purest that played his axe just the way it was!No gadgets,no bullshit!
Because he didn't die at his peak as jimmy. Also he hated his public.
yeah man bloomfield has the groove in every inch of is body...never heard someone like him..even w.trout maybe srv burtits different ..srv fuck his guitar ...mike....make sweet love wit her....
This is blues guitar, it was never going to be top 40.
Oh,no,he was never goin to be a top 40s artist!But some people that really knew his greatness,still have his albums&his music!
@@mariocuellar9060 And some of us like myself were blessed to have seen some of these great musicians on stage and sometimes all together jamming such as Bloomfield, Elvin Bishop, Jimi Hendricks, BB and Albert King, Buddy Guy, Al Kooper , Buddy Miles etc. way back in the old days.
MIchael Bloomfield is in a class by itself. In my opinion, the greatest white blues guitarist the world has ever produced. When he was "on", no one could touch him. And he was a sweetheart of a guy. There's a touching story of Carlos Santana, a kid at the time, playing Mike's Les Paul in the biography.
Great!!
_"In my opinion, the greatest white blues guitarist the world has ever produced."_
Mike was Jewish. He was not "white".
@@electrix6751Norman statement. His skin was white. Perhaps he wasn't an ignorant white bigot.
...of course. To my opinion also!
@@electrix6751well, some Jews are white skinned, and some are dark skinned, that's all. Like Americans, say
Mike Michael Bloomfiled was, like Rory Gallagher ,so underrated guitar virtuoso
I totally agree ...other ones who get no credit are Robin Trower and Anson Funderburgh !!!
Good comparison.
ITS EASY TO TELL HES PLAYING THE OPTIONS WHITE.TELECASTER.BACK THEN THE STRINGS WERE SO HEAVY THEY WERE TWANGY,HARD TO PLAY.CERTAIN GUAGES.SUPER SLINKYS CAME OUT IN 1967.MIKE USED A LES PAUL WITH HUMBUCKS OR P90S.FOR AMPS HE FAVORED FENDER TWIN 2 12INCH,AND FENDER SUPER REVERB 4 10 INCH JENSENS.I LAST SAW HIM PLAY IN 1977,IN PORTLAND.NICK GRAVENITES WAS ON BASS. MIKE WAS USING A WHITE STRAT,ONE OF THE ONLY TIMES IVE SEEN HIM WITH A STRATOCASTER.HE TOLD ME IT WAS JUST FOR A SHORT TOUR,I DONT KNOW WHY HE HAD NO LES PAUL,I DIDNT ASK.THEY SOUNDED GOOD.RIP MIKE,YOU DESERVE IT.
Simply the best. Listeners have to realize that at this time there was no one playing this hard, this bold. I recent years I have thought of Mike's early playing as being very akin to Buddy Guy, but with control and much more lyrical. Great stuff that I hope will be appreciated for many generations to come.
he was the first to play the blues like this.
This performance blows everyone out of the water. Simply fantastic.
He cuts those strings with a ferocious bravery . That's Bloomfield 💗
His level of creativity and ability to sustain that creativity over so many bars is truly genius.
He was a cat that had a vey unique sound - two bars into the tune, you knew it was him. He and Butterfield started me on my 5 decade love affair for the blues.
Wow. That's all I can say. Wow, wowee, wow. In '64, nobody else played like Mike. Or since.
THIS.. he was just so ahead of time , there was no one like him
This playing is great but what is even greater is the fact that this was 1964 ! Think of what we were hearing that year and how far ahead this playing is to any of that!
He’s doing BB and T-Bone. He’s not ahead...
@@paulheselden4543 This is more aggresive than BB and more extended than T-Bone. but it definitely is built upon their foundations.
Earl Hooker had the same style and power before that time - Jimmy Page Rory Gallagher coming also soon
You can hear acoustic licks in his Tele playing. Later, when he switched to the shorter scale Les Paul, he and Peter Green made so famous, his bends took on a different dimension. What a tragic loss. But there really are plenty of tracks to absorb and jam with. His spirit lives on!!
Nobody had this much soul for the electric blues in 1964! Nobody was playing like this in 64, NOBODY!
I feel that words cannot decribe how great Mike Bloomfield was. You have to feel it.😇
He was something special. That is what touches our soul .. one can not describe it, you are so right..
@@tomasvanecek8626 : It is always great to hear from a fan of this outstanding musician. I was fortunate to see Bloomfield four times in concert. Each concert was an event for me, whether he was great or just OK. The first concert I attended Bloomfield & Al Kooper(Super Session) were the second act at The Filmore East. The opening act was Earth Opera, which had David Grisman & Peter Rowan as band members. The main attraction was Sam & Dave. Overall this was a great show. But what stood out that evening was Bloomfield's guitar solos. My friend at the time, Peter K. , told the rest of of our group, attending the show. That you just had to look at my face to know how I felt about Bloomfield's guitar playing. It is true, I have never been able to truly describe how much the musician has touched my soul.✌🤗
@@josephlemko3027 Lucky you... must have been such great moments to be there...🤩
I love Mike Bloomfield's playing so much. And this is 1964 when he is only a youngster playing the taverns of Chicago. I mean he gets way, way better than this. What an artiste. 😜
Thank the Gods this was recorded.
Realmente, Mike es de los mejores guitarristas de la historia del blues-rock
THE greatest blues guitarist !
I found this recording on a 7 inch reel in Norman Dayron's closet in Mill Valley. I asked Norman how long it had been since he heard it and he said "What's the date on the box?" I told him 1964 and he said "That's when I last heard it - the day I recorded it." So Thanks ultimately to Michael's closest friend Norman Dayron, and the best of health for letting us use this in the book.
@Bill Keenom
First Thank you and Norman Dayron.
Do you have any information on where, when, how it was recorded.
I had a CD I found second hand of recordings from 1964 of mostly blues, called Early Michael Bloomfield or some such.
If memory serves most of it was recorded in New York and Al Kooper name was in there. A couple of the cuts might have been late or Dec. of 1963.
Extremely curious.
We gather here tonight for the dignity of man.
Dah dah dah.
If I could lose
All my troubles
By movin away.
I wouldn't stay.
No I . . .
Oh.* I speak tonight for the dignity of . . .
Don't want to get that wrong or we might not have any more basketball.
Other than M.B.'s famous 1963 "The Guitar That Killed Folk" Telecaster, do we know what other equipment he was using on this session, particularly the amplifier?
You can't say someone is wrong because of who their favorite blues guitarist is. It's a matter of what appeals to the person. I enjoy listening to Mike over B.B. It's up to the individual.
Michael Bloomfield is one of the BEST Blues guitarist ever!!!! Take a listen to Live at Bill Graham's Fillmore West 1969 with Nick Gravenites. Make sure you listen to The Moon Tune and Killing My Love. The guitar solo on the Moon Tune makes me cry,
it's that good, he makes the guitar cry.
Also his solo live with Johnny winter. Bloomfield does this one great lick I copped..
Happy Birthday sweet prince. Forever loved and remembered.
It melts my face every dam time! Incredible!
Truly one of the best blues guitarists.
I saw him in the village in 64. Wow, what an experience. He was playing with Paul Butterfield.
BB KING called him one of the greatest blues guitarists of our time.
Mike Bloomfield was on the cover of Time magazine in the late 60s ,hard 2 find.
I hear so much influence from so many early Blues Guitar greats from 50s-Early 60s-Freddy King,Guitar Slim,Berry,and some Rockabilly influences as well. So tragic Drugs to him Early. Amazing he’s just ripping like Charlie Parker on the Sax.
Mike Bloomfield was the greatest white american Blues Guitarist of his time.
+Dieter62 I love Bloomfield, but that is an insane statement. Even he would've said so. In 1964 -- the time of this recording -- BB King was likely the best, followed by Freddie & Albert, and Albert Collins, Earl Hooker, Magic Sam, Buddy Guy, Otis Rush, not to mention the still-alive T- Bone Walker and Lonnie Johnson... to give such black player short shrift seems pointed.
agreed, he merely adapted the style of these players for creating his own music.That is what all music is about.Creating your own
+Darin Strauss most of the guys you named said he was king.
+Darin Strauss Thank you, saved me the trouble.
As much as I love Bloomfield, he was never in the same conversation as Johnny Winter back in those days.
Simply superb in every way and gone way too soon. Hurts my heart but his music lives on. Lord, be merciful!
Every kid beginner blues guitarist if he's lucky discovers Bloomfield , Then for the next 10 years its part of his practice regimen.Then he gets good , real good fast. Ask me how I know.
Robben Ford, Carlos Santana, Billy Gibbons and countless other “guitar masters” have publicly stated and have been quoted in biographies how Mike Bloomfield’s guitar playing was the ceiling for everyone else. Are you listening to this? This is not just noodling for God’s sake!
Yeah - we know who he were...back then. But the blues was sort of underground those days :)
There's a bit of swing and jazz going on here, as a born Detroiter, I've heard and had my share of the blues. The seriouse blues is hard hard driving with a punishing beat, melody is an afterthought. It hits home with a tonic drone expressed in a single key, this was developed in India, through to Africa and hence the U.S. Delta can easily mingle what the raga, hence the blues term "rag"
Mike Bloomfield guitar, inspiration of great player who have gone and are Still Alive máster of good guys His legacy continúes 🎸🎸🥁🎹
What tone! What imagination. Such a beautiful player.
This is from a cd that came with the book about Michael called "If You Love These Blues". If youre not familiar with the book pick it up it's a great read.Disc has 8 tracks from 1964.
His work with Butterfield was sublime..
He's like Johnny Guitar Watson on steroids, holy crap! I always thought Roy Buchanan and Danny Gatton were the masters of the Telecaster, I'm not so sure now. I was more familiar with his LP sound, but boy that bridge pickup could slice through an aircraft carrier.
His demise was a truly sad event, it's too bad they didn't have the modern methods to help his condition back then like they do now days. RIP Michael! Love you man!
Roy Buchanan and Mike Bloomfield. Heaven
Peter Green
Why, I have no idea, but Dieter62 said American.
The title I believe refers to a different, a friend of Michael.
Although it's possible that Mike Bloomfield knew who Roy Buchanan was in 1964, it's not probable.
@@mikeaustin4138 wait who's play the guitar in the video?
Mike was an extraordinary talent. He started playing when he was 13. By the time he was 17 he was sitting with Muddy Waters and many other Chicago blues legends.
What an amazing blues guitarist!!! Mike had a tenacious drive to play and learn from the Chicago Blues Guitar Greats of the early 1960’s
. And jazz, classical, folk, country. He was a scholar of music
Also foreign cultures' music, most prominently Indian.
Just wow. First time hearin him pre-Electric Flag.
What about Paul Butterfield Blues Band?
Definitely as good as any guitarist that ever lived.
The Spirit moved in Mike
One Word Describes Mr.Michael Bloomfield...Passion.
I love everything about the way Mike plays. I love that it's a little rough, dare I say sloppy. I love the clams, the spiky tone. It's so raw and aggressive when compared the modern white lawyer blues players with their twenty overdrive pedals going into their overpriced dumble amps. Anyone reckon what string gauge he's using here. Probaly a bit on the heavy side?
Sounds like the strings are fairly substantial. I don't know why, but as a heavy string player, they bite a bit differently than the lighter strings will, all other things being equal.
I heard from Tom Doucette, who was a roadie with PBBB and later with the ABB that MB played very light strings...actually Black Diamond banjo strings on the top 3 and wound below. His finger vibrato was much more pronounced on the Les Paul than on the early Telecaster recordings, so maybe he went lighter after switching?
Well said!
I think at this stage he was playing a Fender Duo-Sonic - so heavy strings on a short scale neck which made them easier to bend
If its any help, I heard Mike liked a high action.
its so raw.... heart felt... very few people play this well now, 53 years ago..... holy fu%$
Mike Bloomfield- a class of it`s own...No more, no less.
One of my greatest influences. If you have not heard his work on the "Fathers and Sons" album - specifically "Can't Lose What You Ain't Never Had" you are missing possibly THE best short blues solo in the genre.
Amen that! And for the long form, look no further than "I Got A Mind To Give Up Living"
His playing blew Muddy and BB away. That's why they adopted him. BB King said the sky's the limit for him. Dylan said he misses him more than any other.
First time hearing this artist and he just blew my mind!
Wow! Pretty damn good sound for 1964! Need to hear me some more early Mike Bloomfield. I've pretty much neglected this great blues guitarist.
Charlie S.
Try Michael playing on Dylan’s “The Groom’s Still Waiting At The Altar.”
Find "One More Mile" on "What's Shakin'" which also has some early Eric Clapton worth hearing...
On his first to the U. S. Eric Clapton said he that Mike Bloomfield was one of the people he wanted to meet, B B King and Muddy Waters were two others. Bob Dylan said Mike was the best. Hendrix listened to him. Enough said.
Both Hendrix and Clapton were listening to Michael intentently before they made the scene. Not to mention Carlos Santana who supposedly took lessons from him.
He had a unique sound nobody else had then or now .
Wonderful guitar!!
18 years of ages. been studying bloomfield and robertson, both tele masters, ttrying to play like them on an acoustic, and soon I get my first tele. It will blues nonstop in this small british terrace.
Ouch! Thank you!
thank you so much for all the rare Bloomfield stuff you have posted, so grateful
RIPPIN' IT. HE'S MY FAV.!!!
thank you my friend, I shall delve as deep as I can into this musical vineyard.
great post, ive been doing exactly that and i learn tons, some of his lines are so fast and great, i had to slow them down four times in VLC to really catch what was going on. Transcribing that stuff really gets you as close as possible to learning from him.
I am 21 and i have only been playing for two years. I discovered Mike Bloomfield about half a year ago and this all so new to me, im not american. But when i heard bloomfield i had the thought that i arrived at what i wanted to do, it felt like the sound i was searching for the whole time, he portrayed the most.
The tele is not a "forgiving" guitar, it takes a very skilled hand to achieve these tones.
Damn straight. A fine line between using an ice pick and making an ice sculpture on those high notes.
Stanger182 yep
It's a guitar that separates the men from the boys... You can't fake it with a Tele.
Jimi Hendrix never could get what he wanted with a Tele
yet he played many other guitars besides a Strat. He said,
"A Tele has only two sounds, good and bad. And I can't get
the good." You're right, the Telecaster is an animal unto itself.
Those who bond with them, love them. But they're not for
everyone.
@@larrygeetar9309 Hendrix did OK with the lead part to Purple Haze, though.... reportedly done on a Tele (the rest being his Strat).
Charlie Christian has "Swing to Bop" as his virtuosic showcase.. This sure is Mike Bloomfield's virtuosic showcase... oh man!
Mistakes and all, great listening to an emerging pioneer in electric Blues. Thanx!
I met him a couple of times when I was about 18 and an aspiring guitar player in San Francisco. He was absolutely brilliant when he felt well. Not so much when he didn't.
This is exactly what I concluded. I saw him only once in Montreal and he was in absolutely horrible condition. He played worse than the local guys he hired as his pickup band. I was angry at him. Than later I was angry at myself after I heard he had died. Even on his recordings there are some real lemon sessions but when he was "on" there was no one on this planet that affected me like he did. Stone Blues I called it because it created a drug like euphoria in me. HArvey Brooks was always on those recordings so I always wonder if he somehow knew how to bring it out of Bloomfield.
@@jimlabos
Astute.
Harvey?
Thanks for that story man, very well said. Even with his addiction problems, he was still one of the best to the end. His last few years, he made some great recordings, and I especially love Analine. You were lucky to be alive back then, maybe not so much now - eh?
I met him back then. He was very kind and congenial. That night Steve Miller and Harvey Mandel were playing too. Mike was digging them. Jerry Garcia was blown away by Bloomers playing too.
@@andrewz4537 Carlos Santana said he could yell it was Michael if he heard one note played.
I've always held court over the last 50 years or so, with my own choice that I called the "Five Caballeros". The white boys of the Blues; Mike, Rory, Peter, Johnny, and Roy. If y'all know what I'm talkin' about.........well, then y'all know what I'm talkin' about!
Yes sir, all of the above. Mike was the only one i never got to see, of that list. As Bob Hite says 'Don't forget to boogie'. Enjoy, all over the place. Greetings from the Irish delta.
Great list… I don’t know why Clapton isn’t in there. He gets picked on quite a bit but back in his early days when he sported Gibsons he was phenomenal.
Guitar wizardry from a magician!
Thanks for posting this video. This is a rare recording of Mike Bloomfield pre Les Paul, using a telecaster.
You cant find this kind of energy,only mike bloomfield can do this.
Danny Gatton could...in a number of styles.
Simplemente uno de los mejores guitarristas que existieron en la vida fue una dicha conocer su musica
Thanks!!!
The Genious Mike Bloomfield
I love this music!
no words for it
thx
Incredible!
In 1965 I had a cover band at U-Mass, Amherst. We used to drive to Boston to catch the "Paul Butterfield Blues Band" at "Club 47" at 47 Palmer Street, Harvard Square. They changed the name to "Passims" I have three photos of Bloomfield and Butterfield having a smoke on break. The guys in the band were making fun for asking them for a photo but they later wanted copies. Ha !! Bloomfield used to bite his tongue he got so 'high' playing that Telecaster.
The last time I saw Mike Bloomfield was in a blues bar in San Francisco. I was in an EWO class (Emergency War Order) at Vandenburg AFB and got 'leave' so I drove up and saw him that last time. ....small venue and his playing was awesome as usual. He's also on many early Dylan albums. RIP: Mike Bloomfield
Holy fuck, that's some damn good shit! I confess I've neglected listening to Bloomfield over the years...and after listening to this, I wonder what took me so damn long. Better late than never! :-) Who was playing like this at the time? Certainly not Clapton, the Kings(B.B. King particularly), perhaps Peter Green(though I'm not familiar with his stuff in the early 60s...He played one bitchin' live performance of All Over Again/I got a good mind to give up living, but I think that was in 1970.
I'm gonna keep listening, Mike was one of a kind for sure! Thanks for the post! :-)
Cheers!
+ilovewiki Johnny Winter in the late 60s - but that was about 4 years later than this performance.
Lonnie Mack, Chuck Day, others that were playing in bar bands around the country.
+ilovewiki They played like him only later
What do you think he would have made of John Mayer?
he would fold him into a origami ninja star and chuck his ass the hell away from here
Mike y Clapton los mejores de siempre.
And the first ones, at both sides of the sea.
Nobody white else played like this in 65
This is really amazing Michael at his best. Records don't capture MB
I salute you...from a Yank who had to hear this music first from Clapton, Mayall, Beck, etc. before he found out about its true sources. Best of luck and wishes for your own musical journey of discovery and deepening appreciation.
lol...he cited Beck as an influence along with Roy Buchanan
LOVE IT!
Damn! This is a revelation - I wasn't nearly acquainted enough with Bloomfield's output in this era apart from backing Dylan and the Butterfield band. His feel, his cascading explosions of notes, and the obvious influence of Freddy King. He's not just copying, though I love his Tele tone here: absolutely the closest I've heard to that P-90 sound and execution from King's early to mid-60s stuff on a Telecaster, period! Right down to the growl on the bottom strings. This is the shit!!!!
Opions....Mike Bloomfield...the Cat...as Mike said of Johnny Winter ...im trying to find me words...just love Mikes playing...so influenced me......MAGIC
E sempre bom ouvir e recordar Os Grandes Musicos dos Blues como estar a ouvir o Grande Guitarrista Mike Bloomfield e preciso mesmo gostar dos Blues para saber ouvir estes Grandes Senhores dos BLUES.
Now, that's some badass guitar playing.
Here his sounds a lot like Danny Gatton harmonically. Great imagination. Danny was a little smoother but he had more experience when I tuned into him. The telecaster is a hard instrument to play.
Playing Mantis the telecaster is the easiest instrument to play
Love Mike, but in no way was he anywhere near Danny Gatton
I had this!
Interesting that Bloomfield is given credit for the rebirth of the Les Paul
Standard as the main blues, and later, rock axe of the '60s, but he made
his bones on a '63 Telecaster. This is him on the Tele. And his great
early tracks were on the Telecaster - 1st Butterfield album, and his work
with Dylan on Bringing It All Back Home and Highway 61. He was the 1st
player over here to adopt the Les Paul and make it legendary and that
crossed the Atlantic to become guitar of choice for Clapton, Page, Beck,
Peter Green and all the Brit Blues icons of the '60s and '70s.
Daaaaamn!!!
i have inspiration now, i will do this!
Listen to the Live Adventures of Bloomfield and Kooper.
God. Damn. Really. WICKED. And so so so before his time.
This is so touching.. right now i'm reading "if you love those blues", but the cd i got with it is 7 tracks long, not 8. The last track is "Gotta Call Susie"
Anyway the man was the real thing. Nothing but feeling and blues. RIP
I pray someone will be there for the future Bloomfield's lost because of the tradgety of durgs. Drugs attack anywhere ,anytime, anyone
No one is safe at the wrong place or time. Every one is in danger. This is everyone's battle. Save our artists when we can but try.
There's something scary about someone who can play like this at such a young age...or at any age.
clapton did the Beano album at the same age
Excuse me, but I have to go get my telecaster now. This is just inspiring.
Legendary!
Total guitar god.
Used to play at the Golden Bear in Huntington Beach, CA
Amazing!! My Favorite blues ! That´s blues for Roy Ruby a friend of Mike, Not For Roy Buchanan
OK...we give up....who's Roy Ruby ...Rudy...whatever ?
aqua yea Buchanan was not even on the scene in 64
@@elecktrick9s99 Yes he was on the scène at this time, Roy used to play for a lot of people. This blues is not for Buchanan even if Mike loved Buchanan
@@elecktrick9s99 Roy Buchanan's first recording with Dale Hawkins came out in 1958.
@@SmeeUncleJoe Roy was Mike's best friend growing up. Roy was a buddy of mine in Mexico in 1966-67. Roy played in the Miller Goldberg Blues Band right before moving to Mexico. Roy never mentioned this to me. I saw Mike in Seattle in the late 70s He told me Roy had OD.d. Then a few years later Mike did too. Here's the Miller Goldberg Band.ruclips.net/video/s8vOgHz5Kyk/видео.html
Simply genoius ...
And insanely brilliant technique with a true appreciation of the "masters"
Damn!